*Note from Librarian: To understand this period, you have to study Early American history. Here is a very brief overview of how the United States was formed.
The opening of the 17th century found three countries—France, Spain, and England—contending for dominion in North America. Of these England, the tardiest on the scene, finally took control of the beginnings of what is now the United States. Other influential countries in the forming of the United States were Portugal, Russia, the Netherlands, Holland, Sweden, and others.
American colonies, also called thirteen colonies or colonial America, the 13 British colonies that were established during the 17th and early 18th centuries in what is now a part of the eastern United States. The colonies grew both geographically along the Atlantic coast and westward and numerically to 13 from the time of their founding to the American Revolution (1775–81). Their settlements had spread far beyond the Appalachians and extended from Maine in the north to the Altamaha River in Georgia when the Revolution began, and there were at that time about 2.5 million American colonists.
Today, the United States, officially United States of America, abbreviated U.S. or U.S.A., byname America, is a country in North America, a federal republic of 50 states. Besides the 48 conterminous states that occupy the middle latitudes of the continent, the United States includes the state of Alaska, at the northwestern extreme of North America, and the island state of Hawaii, in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The conterminous states are bounded on the north by Canada, on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, on the south by the Gulf of Mexico and Mexico, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean. The United States is the fourth largest country in the world in area (after Russia, Canada, and China). The national capital is Washington, which is coextensive with the District of Columbia, the federal capital region created in 1790.
Works Cited
"American colonies." Britannica Academic, Encyclopædia Britannica, 24 Jun. 2024. academic.eb.com/levels/collegiate/article/American-colonies/631629. Accessed 28 Jan. 2025.
"United States." Britannica Academic, Encyclopædia Britannica, 7 Oct. 2024. academic.eb.com/levels/collegiate/article/United-States/111233. Accessed 28 Jan. 2025.
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